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ARTICLE · 02 AUGUST 2026

Proving Construction Damages: More Than A Feeling

Jones Walker LLP
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Contract damages in construction require more than just a feeling of being wronged—they demand objective proof that losses flowed from the breach and can be quantified with reasonable certainty. Two primary methods, the measured mile and total cost approach, offer different pathways to recovery, but success hinges on building a contemporaneous record from day one that clearly links specific impacts to specific costs.

United StatesReal Estate and Construction
Bradley E. Sands
Bradley E. Sands

When you win a bid, everything can feel like it is going your way — until defective plans, slow RFI responses, or other owner interference upend the work and costs pile up. The sense that you got burned is real, but it is not enough. Courts require that feeling to become something the law recognizes as damages.

Contract damages put the non-breaching party in the position it would have occupied had the contract been performed. 

Legal Hurdles to Recovering Damages

Two gates control recovery: The loss must flow from the breach (causation), and the amount must be shown with reasonable certainty. Mathematical precision is not required, but the estimate needs an objective foundation in facts, figures, or data rather than pure guesswork. The parties’ contract should always be reviewed first, because waivers of consequential damages, no-damages-for-delay clauses, or liability caps can limit or eliminate recovery before proof even begins.

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